Jockeying Begins as Politicians Look to Chicago Mayoral Election

By DIRK JOHNSON, Special to the New York Times

Published: January 19, 1988

CHICAGO, Jan. 18—
Politicians generally like to open campaigns before crowds of cheering supporters. But Acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer, whose public appearances sometimes elicit jeers as well as cheers, chose to announce his bid in a radio studio.

Mr. Sawyer, who announced plans Sunday to run in next year's special election to replace the late Mayor Harold Washington, had earlier planned to announce his candidacy at a public forum honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But Mr. Sawyer switched plans, political insiders say, because he did not want to risk facing the jeers of critics when he made his declaration.

Such concerns underscore the continuing public relations problems facing Mr. Sawyer, who was elected Acting Mayor in a raucous City Council meeting last month by a handful of blacks and a majority of whites long hostile to Mr. Washington.

Thus far, Mr. Sawyer is a candidate with an uncertain base of support. His rival for the post of Acting Mayor, Alderman Timothy C. Evans, is expected to announce his own candidacy for Mayor. Meanwhile, most of the white voters, who have been somewhat more favorable toward Mr. Sawyer, are expected to back a white candidate.

Mr. Sawyer has worked aggressively to mend fences in the black community, but he seems to have been hobbled at every turn. Shortly after his election, it was disclosed that 10 years ago, as an Alderman, Mr. Sawyer accepted a $30,000 payment from Fred Sudak, now a circuit judge, who was then a lawyer representing a company seeking a zoning change.

Mr. Sawyer, who has given three differing accounts of the reason for the payment, said Sunday that the money was a gesture of ''gratitude'' for helping Mr. Sudak's clients obtain financing for a land deal in Arizona and for a store on the South Side.

Mr. Sawyer also found himself in an awkward situation after declaring that patronage was ''dead, dead, dead,'' in trying to explain why he helped more than 12 friends and relatives get government jobs. 'Before Patronage Was Dead'

''That was before patronage was dead,'' explained Mr. Sawyer with a sheepish grin.

And earlier this month, when the city was battered by subzero temperatures and ferocious gales, many Chicagoans reacted angrily when it was learned that Mr. Sawyer had gone to Puerto Rico for a short vacation.

For his part, Mr. Sawyer has encouraged voters to concentrate on his record in his first 50 days in office. Last week he unveiled a major housing initiative, calling for the city-subsidized construction of 350 housing units to be built on vacant city land and sold to low- and moderate-income residents.

He has also spearheaded an effort to increase the number of taxicab franchises, a business he contends has had limited opportunities for blacks. And he claimed triumph in pushing through a $2.7 billion city budget that supporters and foes alike agreed Mr. Washington would have supported.

''You can't have division - you can't have two black candiates or you'll lose,'' Mr. Sawyer said Sunday. ''You will not have two. I'll be the candidate. Trust me.'' Mr. Sawyer's critics say his early campaign announcement was intended to foreclose other candidacies. Other blacks expected to consider bids for Mayor include Alderman Davis, the president pro tem of the council, and Jackie Grimshaw, who served as an aide under Mr. Washington. White Politicians Elated

Some white politicians, meanwhile, have watched the divisions among blacks with glee. They look for a reversal of the 1983 election, in which two white candidates split the vote and Mr. Washington became the first Mayor. This time, some white candidates insist, there will be only one white candidate.

''The whites learned their lesson in 1983,'' said Alderman Edward Burke, who supported Mr. Sawyer in his bid to become Acting Mayor. But now Mr. Burke is weighing a bid himself. ''I haven't ruled it in or out,'' he said.

Mr. Burke said he initially supported Mr. Sawyer because he believed he could heal the divisions in the nation's third-largest city, where racial politics have been nasty in recent years.

Ironically, the early support from white politicians - and the perception that whites controlled Mr. Sawyer -made it all the more necessary for the Acting Mayor to side with blacks on important issues. For example, Mr. Sawyer has insisted that a vacancy on the State Supreme Court be filled by a black, a position that Mr. Washington reportedly did not share.

''I had hoped that Sawyer could be a Mayor that white Chicagoans and white politicians could be comfortable with,'' Mr. Burke said. ''But it's not working out that way. It's as if Harold Washington is running the city from the grave.''